The hotel business activity in the U.S. bounced back in October according to recent data from Smith Travel Research (STR).
Conducted in conjunction e-forecasting.com, STR’s Hotel Industry’s Pulse (HIP) index showed a 0.2 percent increase in October compared to a decline of 0.7 percent in September.
The increase brought the index to a reading of 81.0.
“It appears that the hotel industry recovery we saw during the summer hit a snag and is now hovering near flat levels,” said e-forecasting.com chief economist Evangelos Simos.
“Will this turn into a W (-shaped) recession for the industry? That remains to be seen.”
“It will be important to keep up with the monthly indicators of HIP and HIL (the Hotel Industry Leading indicator) to determine if that does indeed become the case.
“Although this was only a positive improvement over the previous month, there is in it a reason to pause and see it as overly positive.”
STR industry research manager Chad Church said HIP should continue to maintain flat-to-slow growth throughout the end of 2009 barring an unforeseen event.
Source: etravelblackboard.us
